Social Security Dale Koppel

SOCIAL SECURITY Dale Koppel

June 20, 2001|SOCIAL SECURITY Dale Koppel

In the good news/bad news department ...

First, the good news:

The Social Security Administration will (automatically) be issuing one-time payments next month to more than 50 million Social Security and Supplemental Secority Income beneficiaries. The reason? The December 1999 cost-of-living adjustment, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was miscalculated at 2.4 percent, instead of 2.5 percent, meaning that most Social Security and SSI beneficiaries have been receiving incorrect payments since January 2000. (They're calling it the CPI Fix.)

But don't start planning your next cruise.

The bad news is:

The shortfall for most recipients was only $1 a month from January 2000 through July 2001. That means that the retroactive payment checks they receive next month will be for $19, though if you receive higher monthly benefits, you could receive as much as $76. Beginning with the August 2001 benefits, most recipients will be seeing an increase of $1 in their monthly checks, though some could see up to $4 more per month, if they receive higher monthly benefits.

And some people will only receive $12 in retroactive payments ($1 per month for the calendar year 2000) and no increase in their monthly payments because their benefit level for 2001 was not affected by the error. (Or they'll receive no retroactive payment because they were not collecting benefits in 2000.)

Though it may seem like a mere drop in the bucket per person, the error is costing the Social Security Administration $1.1 billion.

OK, so what happens if someone who is technically entitled to this money is no longer alive? I called around to some of the Social Security offices, and, well, no one seemed to know the answer.

The Social Security press office in Atlanta checked for me and claims that checks owed to people who have died will be automatically sent to entitled survivors. If you are a surviving spouse (or other entitled survivor), make sure you watch for that check too. If you don't receive it, contact the Social Security Administration. (Note: If you are a surviving spouse, but are not collecting widow's or widower's benefits and never applied for/received the death benefit, the Social Security Administration would not know that you are entitled to your deceased spouse's retroactive check.)